Enhancement of reflectivity of multilayer mirrors for soft x-ray projection lithography by temperature optimization and ion bombardment

Abstract In this paper we discuss two techniques to optimize the quality of multilayer x-ray mirrors, namely optimization of the temperature of the substrates during deposition and ion-bombardment of the layers. We produced Mo/Si multilayers applying both methods and present the effect on the near normal incidence reflectivity for λ = 13–14 nm radiation. Furthermore an analysis of the homogeneity of the deposited layers is given.